Little rainfall is expected for much of mainland Australia during the week ahead, but this does not mean that it is going to be a boring week weatherwise.  

After an episode of widespread rain across much of the country over the last few days as we have been telling you at Weatherzone, dry conditions will dominate over the coming days thanks to a broad area of high pressure. The high will sit over SA on Monday and move slowly to the east to be centred over NSW by Thursday. 

However, there will be two main exceptions located on the opposite sides of the continent. As the high retreats to the east, a weak front will manage to affect the southwest of WA bringing showers and possible storms between late on Wednesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, moist southeasterly winds sent by the high will direct frequent showers along the exposed Queensland's east coast, mainly on the North Tropical Coast.   

While winds will be generally weak in the south, they will strengthen in the north as a result of the tight pressure gradient, i.e., the large difference in mean sea level pressure between the south and north of Australia. The strongest winds are expected on Wednesday, when gusts may exceed 70km/h over northern parts of WA, the NT, and Queensland.  

  Image: Wind gust on Wednesday afternoon according to the ECMWF-HRES model

As this air travels from the eastern Queensland coast to the interior it loses moisture and becomes drier and drier. The combination of low humidity, gusty conditions, and increasingly warm airmass will elevate fire danger over the NT and WA. A rating of Severe fire danger is currently in place for the Kimberley and Goldfields in WA during Wednesday, and Darwin, Daly South, and Katherine areas in the NT.